Facility will mean jobs, tax revenue for town, but some neighbors not happy about it

This is a view of the new 708,000-square-foot distribution center in Manchester Township that Federal-Mogul, a Southfield. Mich.-based auto parts maker, will occupy. (Kate Penn — Daily Record/Sunday News)

Jim Fink used to enjoy sitting on the swing on the back patio of his Manchester Township home watching the traffic on Interstate 83.

No more.

Instead, Fink's view of the highway has been obscured by a new 708,000-square foot distribution center on Leo Lane, down a hill from the backyard of his Bear Road home.

"You can't even see 83," said Fink, 79, a retired heavy equipment operator who grew up on Bear Road. He said his family once owned the farm where the massive distribution center was built, visible along I-83 near Exit 24, Emigsville.

From there, the company will distribute its full line of Motorparts products up and down the East Coast, including Champion spark plugs, Wagner brake parts and Moog steering and suspension components. First Industrial Realty Trust, a Chicago-based developer, built and owns the facility.

Silver didn't say when Federal-Mogul expects to move in, or how many people it will employ. A spokesman for First Industrial Realty Trust could not be reached.

But when First Industrial said in May it had signed what it called "a leading multinational corporation" to a long-term lease, it said the lease would start on Sept. 15.

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Meanwhile, some of Fink's neighbors on Bear Road are either unhappy or resigned to the fact that the facility will open, bringing additional truck traffic to a neighborhood where they say trucks already clog Susquehanna Trail.

"It really doesn't bother us one way or another," said Diana Kann, 66. "We hated to see the farmland go, but I guess that's progress, so they say."

The facility is in an area of Manchester Township that has been zoned for industrial use since the late 1970s and is already home to companies like Federal Express, Wagman Construction and Americana Tire and Wheel Corp. Township officials are looking forward to the jobs and tax revenue the distribution center will generate.

"We certainly want to see a vacant space occupied, and we're thrilled by whatever jobs come to the township," said Tim James, township manager.

The tax revenue will help pay for emergency services, roads and the township's general fund, he said.

James said Federal-Mogul hasn't told him how many people the company plans to employ here. The amount of the real estate taxes on the facility won't be determined until the interior of the building is completed and the property is assessed for tax purposes.

Distribution centers the size of Federal-Mogul's typically employ between 100 and 200 people, said Marc Wulfraat, president of MWPVL International, a supply chain logistics consulting firm in Montreal.

Meanwhile, Mike Aggelis, manager of Four Brother's Restaurant & Tavern on Susquehanna Trail, has been watching the progress of the construction. The family-owned restaurant already does a brisk business at lunchtime from workers at nearby businesses, Aggelis said. He's hoping Federal-Mogul's workers will become lunchtime regulars, too.

"We're looking forward to it," he said.

And if the demand is there, the restaurant might start delivery service there, Aggelis said.

At the same time, the center's neighbors like Ellis Lehr are resigned to it being in their backyard.

"It's there," said Lehr, 93, a retired telephone company cable splicer, who has lived on Bear Road for 42 years. "I'm going to have to look at it whether I like it or not."